Few houses in America are held with such exceptional regard as that of the famous Biltmore Estate in Asheville, North Carolina. The house was built from 1889 to 1895, by architect's Richard Morris Hunt and Frederick Law Olmsted, for the exceptionally wealthy Vanderbilt family. The Biltmore Estate is a large private estate and tourist attraction, which is the largest privately owned house in the United States. It sits today at 178,926 square feet (or 16,662.8m sq.), with an extravagant 250 rooms.

I’ve always had very random influences from the Biltmore in my life… For example, when I was running my commercial Creative Portrait Studio in New Albany and Heath, Ohio, one of our frame dealers specialized in a Biltmore-styled series. My cousin (or basically, my younger brother) Eric was studying architecture in school, and he took a field trip all of the way to the Biltmore, just to study it further. Every since then, after seeing his photos, I’ve wanted to go. One year, a few years back, I was looking for the perfect Christmas wine, and I found one of the Biltmore / Antler Hill Village & Winery bottles – it ended up being a nice year for wine, apparently; it was rather scrumptious. I’m not a major wine connoisseur, but I do know a decent amount about it, and since visiting several wineries and vineyards throughout my travels, I can say that Antler Hill has quite a range of tastes and specialties – but you probably can’t get every single one of their vintages and styles outside of their in-house shop. I can’t say they’re among the most prestigious of all wineries, but they have a lot of variety, and it all tasted good to me. =)

The Biltmore house is beautiful, yet powerful looking from the outside, yet regal and intimate once you tour the inside. I took the normal tour when I visited last week, but I can say, without a doubt, there are very few houses that can impress as much as this one. It’s ridiculously grandiose, with seemingly no expense spared. There’s a room for this and for that, for one reason or another. Each room larger than the size of my last apartment (which was many) had their own fireplace. There are hidden doors and secret passages, and there are servant quarters, as well as several buildings strewn throughout the grounds. Everything the Vanderbilt family built in or for the house, as well as around the estate was built with complexity, and with great detail and no ceiling for funding. While the entire experience of touring the Biltmore Estate can burn up most of the time in a day, a simple walk from the parking lots to (and around) the house is quite an enjoyable experience. Sure, it may make you feel almost destitute by comparison, but there is a lot of beauty in grander. Plus, you can find a lot of great American history in the story and the art of the Biltmore House.

Great article on a truly majestic and breathtaking house! I worked down the street at the Grove Park Inn, so i was fortunate enough to be able to visit several times during the different seasons. I'm a fan of your blog and I wish all the best!

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